The curtains have been closed for months, the popcorn machines unused and the film projectors remain at a standstill: it just doesn't look good in the cinemas. And there is still no real perspective. On the contrary: even if there are openings and relaxations here and there, the possibility of resuming operations for the cinemas is still a long way off, especially as the infection figures are just rising again. The question is: What happens in the pandemic and after Corona?
This is exactly what the operators of the Frankfurt cinemas are asking themselves. At a meeting with Antje Witte, from the cinema "Orfeo's Erben" and Christopher Bausch, operator of the "Harmonie" in Sachsenhausen and the "Cinema" on Roßmarkt, Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann learned that the industry normally generates a good 70 percent of its revenue in the months from October to March - the very months in which the cinemas are now already closed.
The longer the days get, the harder it becomes to lure audiences into the cinema auditorium, cinema professionals Witte and Bausch know. "At the same time, the numerous e-mails we get from our former guests show me that people finally want to get off the sofa and into the cinema again," Bausch said.
All over Germany, the number of cinema visitors fell by more than two thirds in 2020. To make up for the revenue losses of recent months now in the spring and summer is therefore almost an impossibility. And when the lights will come back on in 2021 is still unclear. There is no opening perspective - not only for cinemas, but also for film distributors, who are pushing their potential blockbusters further and further back, releasing them digitally or selling them to streaming services. It's a difficult situation that could spell doom for many cinemas.
"Unfortunately, that's the case," Feldmann said, "and that's exactly why we as a city should be sending a hopeful signal and thinking about how we can help cinemas reboot after the lockdown during the summer months. I could imagine that we could find places in central locations with good transport links where open-air cinema can be held in Frankfurt from June to the end of September," the city leader said confidently.
"We are very happy to take up the Lord Mayor's idea," said Witte, who herself hosted open-air summer cinema in Hausen's Brentanobad for several years. "What we need now are areas where two to four hundred visitors can watch a screen undisturbed at a distance," said Bausch, describing the challenge. Witte and Bausch are already in talks with other Frankfurt cinema operators, because only together do they want to and can they get a Frankfurt open-air cinema summer off the ground. With support from the city, there should be a few balmy cinema nights in 2021. "The project will certainly not fail because of a lack of films," says Christopher Bausch, who, for all his open-air cinema optimism, has one message close to his heart: "We urgently need an opening perspective for our cinema halls."
A message that will hopefully be heard. Because movies simply belong on the big screen and the very special cinema feeling can not be replaced even by perfect home theater technology.
Which is your Frankfurt favorite cinema and which film are you looking forward to especially after the Lockdown?
